It would be nice to see the Bush junta put our money where their mouth is. And, while I am 100% for anything that gets more trees planted, I'd really hate a mindset that considered them to be "technology."
USDA Official Urges Utilities to Plant Urban Trees to Cut Power Demand
Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey urged utilities to begin tree-planting programs in urban areas as a way to cut demand by helping moderate summer temperatures, the Washington Post reported. The comment was part of the Post's report on a creative program by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District that focused on using an ambitious tree-planting program to bring about a cooler urban environment.
Wrote the Post: "Although Bush administration officials say urban trees are a priority, spending on the federal Urban and Community Forestry Program has declined by about 25 percent in the past four years, from a high of $36 million annually to a proposed $27 million in the coming year."
SMUD estimated that giving trees to its consumers to have returned savings that double the program's cost. A U.S. Department of Energy study has found that a similar program in Los Angeles could cut that city's peak summer temperatures by five degrees.
However, some analysts said that consumer reluctance to maintain their trees and institutional obstacles at utilities more concerned with damage caused by trees are blocking the prospects for tree-planting initiatives. Rey said the Bush administration is seeking to convince utilities through "information and incentives" that tree planting reaps financial rewards.
Kathleen Wolf of the University of Washington was quoted as saying: "These people have not yet reconciled how a green living thing interacts with gray infrastructure. There has not yet been a mind shift that says trees are technology."
Washington Post , Sept. 4.
2 comments:
most urban trees are male...
which is why there is so great a problem with pollen: you got a huge oversupply of male trees releasing their 'sperm' to fertilize almost no female trees.
the reason they don't plant female trees is that they're messy, they drop seeds all over...
's'truth
I have lived in Sacramento about 20 years now. Sacramento likes to see itself as rivaling Paris as the city of trees.
Our first home here was a late seventies tract house with a fruitless mulberry in front like all our neighbors. They are fast growing, good shade but everyone had alergies. Plus they don't root very deeply so they ruined lots of driveways, slab foundations and sewer lines. The tree of the eighties tract home was the liquid amber, not as much shade. I don't remember what the problem with them was. UC Davis master gardeners stepped in and sugested better trees for the area. We need more partnerships like this.
It used to be just come and get a free tree from SMUD. Now I think they give seminars on where to plant and how to care for them before you get the tree. And they don't give out fruitless mulberries anymore.
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